Federal mediator contacts AMPTP

October 20, 2008 The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service formally contacted the AMPTP at the request of SAG to sit down and try to hash out the unsettled TV/theatrical contract. A source close to the producers said federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez -- the very same one chosen last year to mediate talks between the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and WGA prior to the writers strike -- contacted the studios negotiating arm Monday afternoon. Gonzalez's call to the AMPTP was a result of SAG's national board passing a resolution Sunday agreeing to call in the federal mediator before taking the steps to ask its 120,000 members for strike authorization.

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